Cruz Sternly Rebuked by GOP

Ted Cruz is having a tough time in politics. He is an unpopular candidate for president and his own party is rebuking his attempts in the U.S. Senate.

Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was about to pass legislation that would fund the government when Cruz called for a “roll call” vote.

The party rejected his request with a loud “no.”

Cruz was upset that he was denied the ability to spew his conservative rhetoric.

“What does denying a second mean? Denying a recorded vote. Why is that important?” Cruz said. “When you are breaking the commitment you’ve made to the men and women who elected you, the most painful thing in the world is accountability.”

In reality, Cruz wanted a roll call so that he could use it to bash his colleagues in the future.

“One of the ways you avoid accountability is you somehow are somewhere else doing something really, really important instead of actually showing up to the battle,” Cruz said, accusing Republicans of joining with Democrats to “roll over any parliamentary trick you might use.”

Cruz’s speech was filled with familiar accusations that Republican leaders were capitulating, even as he praised Democrats for being more resolute than the GOP. But Cruz also personally lambasted McConnell and his deputies for denying a roll call vote that would have failed anyway, arguing that results are rigged in the Senate and that conservatives have no influence anymore.

“There are no mystical powers that allow you to roll over that. But in the House we still got 30, 40, 50 strong conservatives,” Cruz said.

In reality, it’s not Senate procedure that stymied Cruz on Monday night. Republicans have grown tired of Cruz pushing proposals that he knows McConnell and other Republicans will never back, like defunding Planned Parenthood in a spending bill, then criticizing McConnell for not taking up the plan even as he uses the fight to bolster his presidential campaign as Washington’s consummate outsider.

Cruz’s internal criticism of his leadership is what animates his presidential campaign, but his colleagues appear to be no longer listening. Cruz was allowed only to speak for an hour on Monday night under Senate rules, and no one was itching to grant him an exception.

“The Democrats are objecting to my speaking further. And both the Democrats and Republican leadership are objecting to the American people speaking further. I yield the floor,” Cruz said quietly.

Photo credit: The Mary Sue.

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FrancisMcGlitterbomb

Ted Cruz “speaks for the American people” like John Wayne Gacy speaks for clowns.

John Hamilton Lohnes

Mr. Cruz, the American people are tired of you speaking any further. Good day to you, sir.